At the final whistle, Pep Guardiola and Eddie Howe almost fell into each other’s arms in an unusually long and warm embrace.

After the Manchester City manager’s verbal altercation with Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and his Newcastle counterpart’s only recently ended cold war with the club’s sporting director Paul Mitchell, it was almost reassuring to see the pair share a broad exchanging smiles as they whispered in each other’s ears.

For once, it was probably quite easy to agree that a draw was about the right result – even if it took a great late save from Nick Pope to deflect a goal-bound Bernardo Silva volley.

Switching footwear at the start of the first half, Kieran Trippier played with his left foot illuminated by a neon peach boot and the right in a slightly more subtle purple design. But in the 35th minute, Newcastle’s right-back, preferred here to Tino Livramento, suddenly looked as if he had developed two left feet as Jack Grealish finally managed to elude his former England teammate and, by delivering a clever early pass , an opening for Josko Gvardiol.

After cutting into his left foot, City’s left-back Dan Burn cleared the defense by switching the ball to his right foot. With Burn seemingly anticipating a first-time shot, all Gvardiol had to do was direct a perfectly calibrated shot into the bottom corner.

Until then the entertainment had been dimmer than the tepid September sun. Admittedly, Newcastle started in ultra-intense mode, showing the high, hard press that hadn’t so much functioned as non-existent in recent weeks.

The only problem was that, with Manuel Akanji regularly stepping out of City’s defense and helping Mateo Kovacic, Rico Lewis and co fill the Rodri-sized hole in the visiting midfield, Howe’s players became increasingly frustrated before becoming a bit without strength started to come.

It dictated that Grealish and Gvardiol, without ever looking properly flowing, let alone truly menacing, could take advantage of a rare chink in the home front’s defensive armour. Erling Haaland probably viewed Burn’s role in that goal as divine retribution after reflecting on the large hole torn in a torn sock when the home center half’s studs earlier grazed his Achilles tendon during a somewhat desperate tackle.

If Haaland was less involved than he had hoped, Ederson seemed happy to be reduced to a largely spectator role. Proving that his concentration levels remained as high as ever, the City goalkeeper made an excellent save from Joelinton as half-time beckoned.

Early in the second half, Ederson was beaten from the penalty spot by Anthony Gordon. It all started when the England winger met Joelinton’s lovely ball and, with Akanji wrong-footed, accelerated into the area and almost invited contact with the goalkeeper as he ran towards his outstretched arm. Ederson was subsequently shown a yellow card for refusing a clear goal-scoring opportunity, but remained on the pitch for what was deemed to be a clear attempt to play the ball.

Within a nanosecond of that contact, Gordon, played onside by Kyle Walker, was felled and a penalty awarded. Normally, Alexander Isak would have taken that kick, but the Swedish attacker was absent with a broken toe, which meant that Gordon not only did not study enough as a center forward, but tried his luck from twelve meters. Fortunately for a winger who was on the verge of signing a long-term and lucrative contract extension after a troubled summer, the penalty was not only executed flawlessly, but also sent Ederson the wrong way.

By now, tensions were mounting both on and off the pitch, something that was highlighted when Grealish and Sandro Tonali earned bookings after an altercation off the ball. It was Tonali’s first start for Newcastle since returning from a 10-month ban for a betting law violation and the Italy international initially looked Howe’s most composed midfielder before eventually fading. But for all his undoubted talent and intelligence, it remains to be seen whether Tonali is really that well suited to Howe’s obsession with high-energy, heavy-metal football.

Sean Longstaff, Tonali’s second-half replacement, might have won the game for Newcastle but instead blasted an inviting first shot wide as the game became very convincing.

If substitutes Phil Foden and Savinho had raised the visiting tone, Newcastle were clearly listening to Howe’s pre-match instruction to step up and start justifying their starting places. They protected Nick Pope so well that he had surprisingly little to do in goal for a long time, until that save from Silva’s aforementioned astonishing volley denied City a win they didn’t quite deserve.